We came across a bullish thesis on Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA) on Substack by Peter Thomason. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on IMKTA. Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA)’s share was trading at $61.09 as of May 8th. IMKTA’s trailing P/E was 18.68 according to Yahoo Finance.
An aerial view of a sprawling neighborhood with a grocery-anchored center at its center.
Ingles Markets (IMKTA) is a deeply undervalued American small-cap grocery chain with a unique asset profile and a history of durable financial performance. Despite being in a competitive industry dominated by players like Walmart, Amazon, and Costco, Ingles has never posted an unprofitable year and has slowly compounded intrinsic value over time through strategic real estate ownership and operational efficiencies. The company is still run by the Ingle family, with current CEO James Lanning having risen through the ranks since 1975, and Robert Ingle II, the founder’s son, serving as chairman. This owner-operator structure aligns management’s interests with long-term shareholder value creation, and the company’s steady capital allocation reflects this mindset. What sets Ingles apart from most grocers is its enormous real estate footprint—unlike its peers that lease stores, Ingles owns the vast majority of its land and buildings, often situated in suburban retail centers where it also earns high-margin leasing income from nearby tenants. This ownership model has insulated it from rising rent costs and allowed for more flexible strategic positioning, including operating distribution centers and its own Milkco plant that vertically integrates much of its dairy, juice, and tea supply.
Although its real estate is recorded on the balance sheet at cost, much of it was acquired decades ago. As a result, Ingles’ tangible book value dramatically understates the real economic value of its property. The company is currently trading at a 23% discount to that understated tangible book value, making it a rare case in public markets where a profitable, steadily growing business trades for less than its depreciated land and buildings—let alone their fair market value. While giants like Costco trade at 16x tangible book and Kroger at 10x, Ingles trades at less than 1x, offering a striking discrepancy. The business itself is also solid: it has kept prices low via its distribution scale, grown its footprint in smaller towns, and adapted to changing consumer preferences by expanding organic offerings, online pickup, in-store meal options, fuel centers, and Starbucks kiosks. While a hurricane recently caused a temporary dip in margins, the long-term thesis remains intact.
Trading at a modest 15x P/E with no analyst coverage, Ingles is a hidden gem with a clean balance sheet, growing cash flow, and asset values far above what the market acknowledges. Even without a precise valuation of its real estate, the discount to economic reality presents a compelling risk/reward skew. For the diligent investor, Ingles offers the kind of overlooked, asset-rich compounder rarely seen in today’s market.
Ingles Markets, Incorporated (IMKTA) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 20 hedge fund portfolios held IMKTA at the end of the fourth quarter which was 20 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of IMKTA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IMKTA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
